An acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymer resin has relatively satisfactory moldability, gloss, and the like as well as mechanical strength such as impact resistance and, accordingly, has been widely applied to electric components, electronic components, office equipment or automobile components, and the like.
When an ABS copolymer resin is prepared by grafting a conjugated diene-based rubber latex onto an aromatic vinyl compound and a vinyl cyan compound monomer by an emulsion polymerization method, more satisfactory property balance, superior gloss, and the like are generally exhibited, compared to that prepared by a bulk polymerization method. Accordingly, an ABS copolymer resin has been generally prepared by an emulsion polymerization method.
In addition, an ABS copolymer resin prepared by an emulsion polymerization method is mixed and processed with a styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN) to produce a final ABS-based thermoplastic resin composition. Although an ABS-based thermoplastic resin composition prepared by an emulsion polymerization method is advantageous in that it has superior impact resistance, processability, chemical resistance, and the like, properties such as gloss and sharpness have limitations due to use of an emulsifier or a coagulant during preparation of a diene-based rubber latex and an ABS graft copolymer.